Gated Coverage

The Gazette’s Take on Hike Strike Lacking Something: Students

OpinionsJulia Wolfe — Published November 15, 2011

As a university newspaper, The Link regularly reports on topics with a very specific readership in mind. Students pay for these pages, fill them with content, pick them up, and read them.

The paper in your hands is Concordia University’s Independent Student Newspaper. It only makes sense that the content that fills its pages is largely geared towards this school’s student body.

Having a focus on students is something that The Link is fairly forthright and definitely unapologetic about. The Westmount Examiner should be comfortable being open about gearing its coverage to Westmount residents. The Gazette should strive to cater its coverage to Montreal’s anglophone community.

Yet the paper’s coverage of recent student affairs has proven that The Gazette caters to one sole portion of its demographic—that of wealthy, middle-aged suburbanites.

Despite describing itself as “the dominant medium for reaching Montreal’s large English market,” The Gazette’s recent content suggests that they really only have one reader in mind—which is a shame, since last time I checked, the city was a little more diverse than that.

The Gazette, like a few other media sources, previewed the Nov. 10 student protest prior to the actual protest.

La Presse ran a piece on Nov. 3 that covered the specific reasons for the strike and included quotes from the Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, as well as union leaders who supported the students.

On Nov. 7, CJAD radio hosted our Editor-in-Chief, alongside other young media leaders, where they discussed, among other things, the historical importance of Nov. 10.

But The Gazette’s story took a slightly different angle. Its headline? “Drivers beware: students to demonstrate in Montreal on Thursday.”

It’s as if the editors decided, “We’d love to run something about this, but only if it affects the average Beaconsfield resident—wait! The protest will be annoying to drive through. Perfect.”

Both the lead and conclusion of the piece focused on how the protest would affect traffic. And while this fact is relevant to readers in the Montreal area, it certainly didn’t deserve the prominence it received in a story that gave little attention to the fact that over 200,000 students were on strike that day.

It’s not just that The Gazette covered this angle of the story; it’s that they left out other, arguably more important ones. The protest affected traffic downtown for a day, but the issues being protested are far wider reaching. They could have serious implications for residents all over Quebec for years to come—and not just students.

Though The Gazette’s readership may not include many university students, many of their readers will be sending their children to Quebec universities in the coming years.

As for the traffic disturbance? Between 20,000 and 30,000 people marched in the rain on Nov. 10 to show their support for the student struggle. The McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association was there, among other unions. Faculty from a variety of schools showed up as well. And I noticed more than one parent walking with their child.

The day was a huge success for the cause, and got the attention of national media sources such as The Globe and Mail and the CBC.

While these media sources used language such as “marched,” “stormed” and “staged a massive protest,” The Gazette told us that 20,000 kids “skipped class.” Ouch.

For the number of students who voted for a strike mandate that day, or even walked-out (many with the support of their professors), it’s a huge slap in the face to use a term that puts their concerted political effort in the same context as a high school kid ditching first period to go to the mall.

The Gazette’s other student coverage, such as the story following the slash to undergraduate representation on Concordia’s Board of Governors, was just as bad.

While the piece almost chastised students for having “jeered, heckled and protested” the decision that day, precious little of the article looked into why that might be.

I was at the meeting when the motion was passed, and was amazed at how The Gazette’s university reporter had to be told prior to the meeting that Concordia has two campuses.

If even basic research isn’t required to be a Gazette reporter, how could they hope to have a piece that touched on the complex relationship students at this school share with their Board of Governors?

Obviously, The Gazette is tasked with a hugely difficult job. Adequately representing the entire Anglo community in this diverse and vibrant city verges on impossible.

But students are a sizable part of that community. We have the highest number of students per capita in North America. So, you’d think that would make us part of their target marget. Each of us are potential customers and at Concordia alone, that’s 45,000 people

Right now though, The Gazette just doesn’t seem like a paper that’s written with this in mind.